Pastor Carlyle Naylor

Tina and I went to the Fiesta Bowl. We were in the midst of the wild fans when we met Tina’s cousin and her husband.  Tina and I met at Boise State, and her cousin and her husband met at Texas Christian, so we wanted a picture.

I asked a woman to take the picture and she agreed—until she saw Tina’s cousins in TCU purple.  She politely, respectfully, and certainly refused to take the picture. She could not even consider being a part of anything that was not a part of building up Boise State. She took BSU football that SERIOUSLY!

What if I was like that with God. What if we were like that with God? What if we were that devoted to Him—to knowing Him, to living with him and for Him.

People involved in Missional community are developing that kind of devotion to God. Missional community is made up of people who are deepening in their devotion to Yahweh and His word. That kind of devotion is the focus of our communion tonight.

There was this devoted man in the Old Testament.

• He was devoted to finding out the answer to that age-old question—what is the meaning of life
• He had many RESOURCES:  money, intelligence, people to help him, even God’s blessing.
• He was HONEST—reverent before God, but also questioning—not careless or gratuitous questioning; but respectful and purposeful questioning.
• He was REAL—relevant before man, but also cutting – not leaving anything out—even considering unorthodox and sinful pursuits as answers to this question of meaning
• He was REMINISCENT—reviewing things that seemed to matter once, but didn’t matter anymore
• He was RESPONSIBLE—wondering about his spiritual and physical legacy he was leaving to his children and their children.
• He was FUTURISTIC—fearless before both man and God—wondering about the after-life—if it even existed.

When it was all said and done, he came to a conclusion. We find the conclusion in Ecclesiastes 12:13:

The end of the matter; all has been heard.  Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.

This is a cool and succinct verse. The last part of the verse that does not translate well to English—the word DUTY is added to help us make more sense of it. This can be important to know because it emphasizes the meat in the middle of the verse.

When all was heard the conclusion is to do two things—ONLY two that we can be devoted to. Those two things bring wholeness, completeness and even perfectness (as that word is used at times in the Bible): Fear God and Obey His commandments.

When we fear God, we can do that same thing—put Him on the shelf.  If we understand “fear” better, God won’t have to stay there.

• Fear can keep our perspective healthy and fear can keep us from accessing and relating to God
• Fear has a few synonyms from how it is used in other places in the Bible that can help us:
  • Revere—elevating or placing Him high in our esteem—There is no One higher
  • Respect—being sensitive to and considerate of His place and role—We submit to Him
  • Agreement that He is sovereign—We can trust Him
  • Acknowledgment that we fit into His scheme of things—This is His Story

That’s all we have to do—BE SERIOUSLY Devoted to God.

Commandments—this word’s root in constitute—or the things that God is made of. God’s commandments are part of God—his essence, His nature, His character. Knowing them is knowing Him.

We are to KEEP his commandments:

• Seeking—more of what needs to be present
• Sense of Diligence—expecting to hear from God
• Sense of regularity—doing it often
• Guardianship—of what is already present
• Sense of innateness—cting Godly become more and more instinctive.
• Sense of normalcy—acting, or being Godly becomes our norm and our reputation

So after all is said and done: Fear God & Keep His commandments. In those is the WHOLE of you!